Father takes on Liverpool to Leeds challenge

Kevin’s young son Leighton was struck down by
bacterial meningitis and spent over a month in hospital

In July 2013 Kevin Ryan's young son Leighton was struck down by
bacterial meningitis and spent over a month in hospital battling the disease,
before making a full recovery.

To mark the anniversary of Leighton contracting and fighting
meningitis, Kevin wanted to complete a challenge and support a charity which raises awareness of the disease.

Kevin said: “We saw the other stories of
people affected by meningitis, and all the after-care and support work Meningitis
Now does, and knew we wanted to help.”

With this in mind, Kevin led a Liverpool to Leeds Canal
cycling challenge, covering 197 miles from Liverpool and back within just 36
hours. The team included friends,
Anthony Burke, Gary Roberts, Brett Roberts, Kyle Lane, David Jones, Paul Ryan
and Kevin Howard.

Although there were some injuries and technical set-backs on
the way, they persevered and were joined for the last stretch of the journey by
their children.

Kevin said: “Arriving back at Liverpool to the applause of family and friends and
completing the final mile with the kids, made all our aches and pains worth
it.”

For Kevin, the challenge was an opportunity to mark three
years since Leighton’s recovery.

Kevin said: “Family life means everything to me. After going through the
devastation of what meningitis can do and how quickly it can do it, we try to
have as much family time as possible together, as you never know what is around
the corner.

“By doing our event and raising
awareness for Meningitis Now, we are hoping to make for people more aware about
meningitis. Meningitis is a terrible disease and no family should have to go
through it.”

The group would like to thank Quinns bike centre in
Liverpool who kindly provided a free safety check and to the staff at the
Crowne Plaza Hotel in Leeds.

For information about ways to fundraise and support the work we do, click here.

We’re celebrating thirty amazing years of the meningitis movement in the UK this year by asking you, our supporters, to help highlight the achievements and inspiration of the past three decades on an online photo-wall hosted on our website